When my time comes to take over the company, I plan to build a new empire. Our association won’t just be with rich bastards who get off on money and power.
We aren’t all the same, and I’m going to prove that. The blood in our veins, the name we carry and money in our accounts is what gives us a path in this life. Many think of it as an honor, but I think of it as a curse, yet somehow, here I am at the fucking top.
Mitchell made it clear becoming a part of this life wasn’t an option.
For that, I’ve made sure people understand my blade hurts much worse when the person on the other side of it doesn’t care about causing pain. He may be the boss, but I am the one they allfear. Which is why the days until I claim this company cannot come sooner.
Once I finish up the bulk of my work, I utilize this spare time to start searching hospital databases nearby for that little fire from the coffee shop.
I start with Mass Gen since it’s our biggest hospital, not taking any more than a few minutes before I’ve hacked into their system. I scour the employees' lists with no clue if she’s a nurse, a CNA, an x-ray tech, or hell, even a doctor.
The list of occupations in a hospital goes on, and I know I’ll be searching through thousands of names and faces before I find her. So I start with the first list, leisurely scrolling, despite my heart pounding in my chest, desperate to find her.
I lean back in my seat, passing by pictures of employees whose faces don’t mean a thing to me. While something in my heart tells me that Boston will bring us back together, I’m unfortunately an impatient man at times, and this is one of them.
Ihaveto know her name.
Hearing my phone buzz on my desk, I’m taken out of my hunt and pick it up, finding a text message from Mitchell. I scroll through, finding hundreds from my family chat, most being Sam.
I open the message from my father, seeing it’s short, brief and to the point.
Don’t forget the hotel launch next Friday. Casual wear. Still business. It’s yours to handle. Make sure you bring a date. Meaning Shelby. Don’t fuck it up. Fix what you broke. We have a lot of eyes there.
I already know I’ll get a message from Shelby this week. I’ll do the same thing I always do; I won’t respond.
My parents like to believe a man looks more respectable with a good little spineless wife on his arm as an accessory to make me look powerful, but I don’t. I won’t bring a date, and I sure as shit won’t bring Shelby because people will talk. Those eyes my father has also have mouths.
My phone buzzes again as I get another message from my family, saying to meet at Martha’s.
Stopping everything I’m doing, I pack up my things so I can go be with them. I’ll finish whatever I need to do tomorrow.
I send a message and lock up my office.
I’m on my way.
SUNNY
The busy day in the hospital has me shocked when I see it’s already five. It was a no lunch kind of day, with throbbing feet and an achy back, but I’m truly enjoying the rush of it all.
Finally sitting at the nurse’s station, I take a sip of my water, ready to chart. I place my stethoscope on the desk and jolt as my name is called by the charge nurse.
“Sunny!” I hear Tara yell from her place by the ambulance bay. “You’re getting another one in A5. Motor Vehicle Accident running from her abusive partner. Twenty-five-year-old female coming by ambulance.”
My stomach churns and flips inside out. I just nod, yelling back, “Okay!”
I look at my computer but don’t actually see anything as I white knuckle the desk. While the world spins, my heart beats frantically against my sternum.
I left my life and memories in search for a freedom that is only confined to a prison. Yet they still follow me, no matter how fast I run to leave them behind. In the night they present as sinister smiles and my body being defiled. It makes me wonder how such an intense love has turned into pain.
Seeing that girl will be like seeing myself, and I’m not sure I’m ready to revisit that part of me just yet. Because I know despite what he did to her, she’ll still have love in her eyes for him, regardless of the hatred that’ll slowly take its place.
I don’t know if I’m ready for that. My wounds are still bleeding. They haven’t even had a chance to close yet. But as the ambulance pulls up and rolls the battered girl on a gurney, I realize I have no choice.
As soon as I see the broken and beaten face on the young girl, I can’t stop the images of a hard fist to my face and my stethoscope wrapped around my neck.
I bring a shaky hand to where that reminder of a scar stays onmy neck now. He will forever have an imprint on me, no matter how hard I try to scrub myself raw of him.
Grabbing my stethoscope with shaky hands, I place it in my scrub pocket, and enter the room where the girl waits for me.
